A filtered supply of a coolant, lubricant, fuel, water or other fluid is oftentimes essential for the proper operation and maintenance of a plethora of industrial, automotive and commercial systems. Unfortunately, the filter elements utilized to filter such fluids must be periodically replaced or cleansed to remove a clogging accumulation of contaminants and foreign matter therefrom.
The periodic removal and replacement of a clogged filter element generally requires the shutting down of an associated system during the replacement procedure. The expensive, nonproductive downtime of the system, the replacement cost of the filter element and the expenses incurred to properly dispose of the soiled filter element and the contents thereof in accordance with the ever increasing degree of governmental and environmental mandates, have led to the development of numerous in situ filter element cleansing systems.
One such system, generally termed backflushing or backwashing, generates a reverse flow of fluid through individual filter elements to dislodge the contaminants therefrom, wherein the backflushing fluid has been filtered by multiple filters. Advantageously, backflushing reduces the operational cost of a filtering system by extending the usable life of the filter elements, by reducing the system downtime required to replace filter elements and by reducing disposal costs. Notwithstanding the above-described advantages, currently available backflushing systems are not capable of producing a reverse flow of fluid having sufficient flow rate, velocity and pressure drop to remove substantially all of the contaminants from a filter element, especially when the fluid is highly viscous or has a high solid content and the filter elements have fine filtration ratings of 40 microns or less.